Module 7

Front 1

Cerebral Cortex

Back 1

A thin surface layer of interconnected neural cells covering the cerebral hemispheres. It's the body's ultimate control and information-processing center.

Front 2

Which area of the human brain is most similar to that of less complex animals?

Back 2

The brainstem

Front 3

Which part of the human brain distinguishes us most from less complex animals?

Back 3

The cerebral cortex.

Front 4

The animal complexity ladder

Back 4

Animals on the lower ladder of the complexity scale operate mainly on the brainstem with pre-programmed instructions. More complex animals rely more on the cerebral cortex and allow for more learning and thinking to allow more adaptability.

Front 5

The cerebral cortex is composed of four lobes...

Back 5

Frontal, parietal, occipital and temporal lobes

Front 6

Frontal Lobe

Back 6

Portion of the cerebral cortex lying just behind the forehead; involved in speaking and muscle movements and in making plans and judgement.

Front 7

Parietal Lobe

Back 7

Portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the top of the head and toward the rear; receives sensory input for touch and body position.

Front 8

Occipital Lobe

Back 8

Portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the back of the head; includes areas that receive information from the visual fields

Front 9

Temporal Lobe

Back 9

Portion of the cerebral cortex lying roughly above the ears; includes the auditory areas, each receiving information primarily from the opposite ear.

Front 10

The cortex has many different functions, what are they?

Back 10

The cortex has motor functions, sensory functions and association areas

Front 11

Motor functions

Back 11

In 1870, physicians stimulated parts of the brain in the left and right hemispheres which caused movements on the opposite sides of the body, this was caused by the motor cortex.

Front 12

Motor Cortex

Back 12

An area at the rear of the frontal lobes that controls voluntary movements. The left hemisphere section controls the body's right side and vice versa. The amount of cortex devoted to a body part is not proportional to size, rather, it devotes more size to areas that are sensitive and require more control. The motor cortex sends messages out the body.

Front 13

Sensory Functions

Back 13

The region where the brain receives signals, specifically the somatosensory cortex.

Front 14

Somatosensory Cortex

Back 14

An area at the front of the parietal lobes that registers and processes body touch and movement sensations. For example, if you stimulate the top part of this cortex a person will feel that they were touched on their shoulder etc. The more sensitive the body region, the larger the somatosensory cortex area devoted to it. Somatosensory cortex receives incoming messages.

Front 15

Auditory Cortex

Back 15

Any sound you now hear is processed by the auditory cortex in your temporal lobes. Most of this auditory info travels a circuitous route from one ear to the auditory receiving area above your opposite ear. If you stimulated the auditory cortex, you might hear a sound. This explains auditory hallucinations in people with schizophrenia because there are active auditory areas in the temporal lobes.

Front 16

Visual Cortex

Back 16

Located in the occipital lobes at the rear of the brain. It receives input from the eyes.

Front 17

Association areas

Back 17

Areas of the cerebral cortex that are not involved in primary motor or sensory functions; rather, they are involved in higher mental functions such as learning, remembering, thinking and speaking.

Front 18

Will electrically probing an association area trigger a response?

Back 18

It won't trigger an observable response. Unlike the somatosensory and motor areas, association areas functions can't be neatly mapped. These areas interpret, integrate and act on sensory info and link it with stored memories.

Front 19

What lobes are association areas found in?

Back 19

They are found in all four lobes. The prefrontal cortex in the forward part of the frontal lobes enables judgement, planning and processing of new memories. This shows that people with damaged frontal lobes may have intact memories, high scores and great baking skills but won't be able to plan ahead to begin baking the cake.

Front 20

Frontal lobe damage can lead to?

Back 20

It can alter personality and remove a person's inhibitions without altering memories and mental abilities. Phineas Gage story! Damage to the frontal lobe can also lead to impairments in moral judgement. These people probably would push someone in front of a bus to save 4 other people.

Front 21

What mental functions do association areas also perform?

Back 21

The parietal lobes enable mathematical and spatial reasoning. Stimulation of one parietal lobe area can produce a feeling of wanting to move an upper limb, the lips or tongue without any actual movement. With increased stimulation, patients falsely believe they had moved them. Perception of movement flows from our intention and results expected, not cuz we actually moved it.

Front 22

Plasticity

Back 22

The brain's ability to change, especially during childhood, be reorganizing after damage or by building new pathways based on experience.

Front 23

Brain damage effects can be traced to two facts:

Back 23

1. Severed brain and spinal cord neurons usually don't regenerate.

2. Some brain functions seem preassigned to specific areas.

Front 24

Constrain Induced Therapy

Back 24

Restraining a fully function body part while putting the severed body part to work so the brain will recover its skills.

Front 25

Plasticity and blind/deaf people

Back 25

Blindness/deafness makes unused brain areas available for other uses. Because blind people use braille to read, they have increased sensitivity to touch because plasticity allows touch to invade the visual cortex.

Front 26

Neurogenesis

Back 26

The formation of new neurons. This is used along with when the brain attempts to self repair by reorganizing existing tissue.

Front 27

Corpus Callosum

Back 27

The large band of neural fibers connecting the two brain hemispheres and carrying messages between them.

Front 28

Split Brain

Back 28

A condition resulting from surgery that isolates the brain's two hemispheres by cutting the fibers connecting them.

Front 29

Visual wiring

Back 29

Each eyes receives info from the entire visual field. But in each eye, info from the left half of your field of vision goes to your right hemisphere, and info from the right half of your visual field goes to your left hemisphere. Data received by either hemisphere are quickly transmitted to the other across the corpus callosum. In a person with a severed corpus callosum, this info sharing doesn't take place.